It's surprising that pre-Christian bones would be in such good condition. At the cemetery near Sutton Hoo, the bodies had become mere carbon imprints on the soil. The ground must be much less acidic near Gyburc's home.

Re. reburial - it was more a case of returning as many fragments to the original burial site as possible. The bag was to make sure they didn't get scattered or come into contact with the concrete that was about to be poured in. DH and I made a really thorough search of the spoil-heap to make sure that we found as many of the remains as we could, so that we could replace them with the rest of her, and I said some words over her in private. But really, given that my belief system is probably light years away from what hers would have been, it was hard to know what else to do. We treated her with respect, at least.

Twik, we're on gravel where I live, so there's pretty good drainage, but I have no real idea about the acidity. As you say, though, it can't be too strongly acid.

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When you look into the photocopier, the photocopier also looks into you

My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."

Last year, one morning a rumbling noise woke me briefly before I drowsed back off again.

After we both were up properly, I asked my DH if we'd had a thunderstorm this morning. He said no, and was obviously trying not to look at me like I was nuts.

Driving to work, I found I had to go the long way out of the street because there were police and fire trucks on the corner of Our Street and Big Street. I learned the rest of the story as the day went on.

That morning, someone driving way too fast for the road lost control of their van, careened across the oncoming lanes of traffic and slammed into a corner house's garage. It was an impressive feat, as they managed to hit just the right angle to slide in between the tree and fence. The house caught on fire. One of the occupants was elderly, and had a stash of oxygen tanks beside the garage.

The booming noise that had woken me that morning was those oxygen tanks exploding.

Amazing, nobody was killed, and the residents were renters, so their losses weren't as great as they could have been. The house was gutted and had to be completely rebuilt. It's now for sale way overpriced for the tiny little thing that it is, and we don't expect that they're going to actually sell it anytime soon.

Apparrently our old neighborhood was where all the criminals liked to hide out. It was a townhouse community and the back yards were very dark. At least once or twice a month there would be a police helicopter hovering with a searchlight.

We had a home invasion in my old neighborhood. In our house. Where my kid still lives. Yikes!

Before that, the most dramatic thing that happened was a gang showdown (complete with random shooting) that took place between neighbors at the back of our neighborhood - new neighbors moved into a house and it was discovered that the people already living next door were from a rival street gang. Thankfully, that was the only time anything like that had happened, and the neighborhood has been on the upswing until last night's incident.

One night a few years back, while everyone was sleeping, we were hit by an earthquake - the whole house was shaking. The kids ran into my room panicked, wondering what was happening - I groggily said its just an earthquake, go back to bed. (can you tell I grew up in an are that had several minor "quakes")

Right before it crashed, that plane flew over our neighborhood a couple of times- I think it was circling around, looking for a place to dump fuel, trying to make Halifax international airport. Unfortunately it never made it, crashing into St Margaret`s bay. Given how fast planes tend to move, that means a span of time of probably seconds making the difference between that plane going down into water or into a populated area. (We are not too far away from where it went down)

My backyard is on a hill overlooking a 4-lane highway. There is a row of trees that generally blocks my view of the road and somewhat muffles the traffic sounds. One winter day I heard the *THUD*SMASH* of an accident, but couldn't see anything. About 15 minutes later the med-evac helicopter arrived and landed in the road directly behind my house. Because the trees didn't have any leaves, I had a clear view of the copter. The accident itself was blocked from my view by the hill and the way the road curves at that point. The next day I learned a northbound car had crossed the median and had a head-on collision with a southbound car.

When my husband was a boy, my IL's lived next to a gas station along rt 1 in Laurel, MD (they've moved since). There was a fence between the gas station's property and that of my IL's, but one night a guy who was probably drunk or something, rammed through the fence and ran right into the IL's house, striking it right under DH's room.

From what I recall of the story, the house was okay for the most part, no one was hurt and in fact DH was such a sound sleeper that he slept through the whole thing and had to be told what happened the next day.

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Beyond a wholesome discipline, be gentle with yourself. You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars. You have a right to be here. Be cheerful, strive to be happy. -Desiderata

Right before it crashed, that plane flew over our neighborhood a couple of times- I think it was circling around, looking for a place to dump fuel, trying to make Halifax international airport. Unfortunately it never made it, crashing into St Margaret`s bay. Given how fast planes tend to move, that means a span of time of probably seconds making the difference between that plane going down into water or into a populated area. (We are not too far away from where it went down)

Hi neighbour,

I remember it well. And you're correct. The flight turned to make an emergency landing at YHZ but were told to dump the extra fuel before making the attempt.

For me personally, watching a Sea King fly over the harbour (19th floor) and seeing a part drop off.

Right before it crashed, that plane flew over our neighborhood a couple of times- I think it was circling around, looking for a place to dump fuel, trying to make Halifax international airport. Unfortunately it never made it, crashing into St Margaret`s bay. Given how fast planes tend to move, that means a span of time of probably seconds making the difference between that plane going down into water or into a populated area. (We are not too far away from where it went down)

Hi neighbour,

I remember it well. And you're correct. The flight turned to make an emergency landing at YHZ but were told to dump the extra fuel before making the attempt.

For me personally, watching a Sea King fly over the harbour (19th floor) and seeing a part drop off.

I remember being in a rural hotel in Louisiana, when I heard a noise coming from the ceiling. I was terrified it might be a rat or something.

Instead, it was geckos. Love the little critters, so that was not scary or dramatic, but charming.

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My cousin's memoir of love and loneliness while raising a child with multiple disabilities will be out on Amazon soon! Know the Night, by Maria Mutch, has been called "full of hope, light, and companionship for surviving the small hours of the night."

I remember being in a rural hotel in Louisiana, when I heard a noise coming from the ceiling. I was terrified it might be a rat or something.

Instead, it was geckos. Love the little critters, so that was not scary or dramatic, but charming.

I live in Hawaii. We gots choke geckos (translated from pidgin - We have a lot of geckos). I love the little critters, too, but they cannot be housebroken. If they get in your house, you will have gecko poop all over, especially on the window sills. I inspected a laboratory at a wastewater treatment plant. The lab failed the inspection because they could not keep the geckos out and there was gecko poop all over everything, bringing into question their sanitation practices and lab results.

So I love geckos, but I insist on loving them outside.

[end threadjack]

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"The first rule is to keep an untroubled spirit. The second is to look things in the face and know them for what they are."